Eastern Mysticism – Part 5

By: Dave Hunt; ©1998

Is the similarity between shaktipat (spiritual awakening experienced in eastern religions) and being “slain in the spirit” more than mere coincidence? How has the acceptance of eastern mysticism influenced the ecumenical spirit in America today?

 

Shaktipat and the Charismatics

Professor Michael Ray of the Stanford Graduate School of Business came to a new view of human potential and its application to the business world after being introduced by his psychotherapist to the Siddha Yoga of Swami Muktananda. At that time the Swami (since deceased) was the guru to many business leaders and Hollywood stars. Ray’s life was transformed when an assistant to Muktananda ran a peacock feather across the “third eye” in the center of his forehead. Says Ray:

I saw a bolt of lightning, like a pyramid of light. I began literally bouncing off the floor and trembling. I cried. I felt tremendous energy, love, and joy.

What I had experienced, I later learned, had been shaktipat, or spiritual awakening of kundalini energy inside me [the serpent force coiled at the base of the spine and awaiting release in an altered state]….^[1]

As we shall see, Ray’s experience was much like that of thousands of charismatics who are convinced they have received a “special touch from the Holy Spirit” at a John Wimber or Benny Hinn “miracle” service or at the former Toronto Airport Vineyard, or perhaps from the worldwide “revival” flowing out of the Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida, or elsewhere. One cannot escape the similarity between shaktipat and what the charismatics, both Catholic and Protestant, call being “slain in the Spirit.”

At the touch of the evangelist, usually on the forehead, the subject falls backward into the arms of “catchers” standing by. In this trance-like state he has a variety of occult experiences, from flashes of light to a sense of well-being and love; from uncontrollable weeping or laughter and violent shaking to “speaking in tongues.” It was evangelist and healer Kathryn Kuhlman who made “slaying in the Spirit” a household term among charismatics in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Televangelist Benny Hinn claims to be Kuhlman’s successor, having picked up “the anointing,” which he says still lingers at her grave.

As a further example of the similarity between “slaying in the Spirit” and shaktipat, con­sider what happened to Gerald Jampolsky. He has become famous for his use of A Course in Miracles in his psychiatric practice and in his books and lectures around the world. Jampolsky believes he was prepared for the message of the Course through shaktipat, administered by Muktananda:

It seemed as though I had stepped out of my body and was looking down upon it. I saw colors whose depth and brilliance were beyond anything I had ever imagined.

I began to talk in tongues. A beautiful beam of light came into the room and… I was filled with an awareness of love unlike anything I had known before.

And when I [later] started reading the Course, I heard a voice within say, “Physician, heal thyself; this is your way home,” and there was a complete feeling of oneness with God and the Universe. ^[2]

As a result of such mystical experiences, Ray and Jampolsky and thousands like them have adopted the views of Eastern mysticism. We are in the midst of an occult invasion.

Eastern Mysticism and Ecumenism

Many Christians assure themselves that there is real virtue in trying to see all the good they can in everyone and that in so doing they are showing Christ’s love. After all, isn’t love the most important virtue (1 Corinthians 13)? But love is meaningless without truth. Showing the influence of Eastern mysticism, a recent poll revealed that 71 percent of Americans, 64 percent of those who claim to be “born-again,” and 40 percent of self-described evangelicals do not believe in absolute truth.

That denial of God’s truth is promoted in all communications from entities claiming to be spirits of the dead, Ascended Masters, space brothers, “Jesus,” or whoever is most appealing to the particular recipient. Judith Skutch, the publisher of A Course in Miracles, attests to the fact that “the same perennial philosophy or ancient wisdom” is expressed consistently through “different voices.” ^[3] The message of the 500,000-word A Course in Miracles is no exception. Dictated to an atheistic psychologist by “Jesus,” the Course reflects the same promotion of Eastern mysticism that Edgar Mitchell embraced on his moon journey:

The world you made… is only in the mind of its maker… by recognizing [this] you gain control over it…. The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness… your limitless power… it is what you are.

God would never decide against you, or He would be deciding against Himself…. Forgiveness… does not pardon sins… it sees there was no sin.

All guilt is solely an invention of your mind… in understanding this you are saved… how simple is salvation! It is merely a statement of your true identity.

The lie is so obvious that it requires no explanation. Every child has conscience enough to know that he is morally accountable for his deeds and that sin has separated him from God. Yet the lie is so appealing that intelligent adults by the millions embrace it in their desperate flight from truth and God.

Embracing the Wildest Tales

It can hardly be coincidence that “Ramtha,” who channels through J. Z. Knight, preaches the same cosmic gospel from the East. Those who have rejected the Bible as “myth” turn right around and swallow the wildest tales—and there is none wilder than Ramtha’s.

Having allegedly lived in mythical Atlantis 35,000 years ago and having “ascended into the Seventh Heaven, where he and God became one… [Ramtha] is now part of an ‘unseen brotherhood’ of superbeings who love us and hear our prayers.” ^[4] The top business leaders of the world accepted Napoleon Hill’s story of a Temple of Wisdom run by a school of Masters on the astral plane, so why not Ramtha’s delusion as well? Indeed, Ramtha’s followers include some of America’s brightest and most highly educated.

Ramtha’s teachings even influenced “managers and executives of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) whose decision-making and judgments have the greatest impact on the agency….” Ramtha’s influence came through a stress management course for FAA executives over a period of years at a cost of 1.4 million dollars to taxpayers. The bizarre training, which resulted in lawsuits against the FAA, was given by a California psychologist who is reportedly a follower of Ramtha and has even conversed with him. ^[5] The amoral nature of the training and its relation to the rejection of sin and absolute truth reflects Ramtha’s blatantly anti-Christian teachings, which echo to a large extent A Course in Miracles and have been summarized as follows:

God is neither good nor bad…. He is entirely without morals and non-judgmental. There are no divine decrees. Is-ness is his only business. Hell and Satan are the “vile inventions” of Christianity, a product of “your insidious Book [the Bible],” which Ramtha advises his listeners not to read.

There is no such thing as evil. Nothing you can do, not even murder, is wrong…. I AM… “does not even have the ability to judge you.” There is no forgiveness of sins because there are no sins to forgive.

Every vile and wretched thing you do “broadens your understanding. If you want to do any one thing, regardless of what it is, it would not be wise to go against that feeling….

“Everyone… whether he is starving, or crippled… has chosen his experience for the purpose of gaining from it….” Why condemn the Holocaust? Every murdered Jew chose to be killed, and Hitler was merely undergoing a learning experience. ^[6]

India, Tibet, Burma, Sri Lanka, and other countries where Eastern mysticism has been practiced for thousands of years are among the poorest countries in the world and the most blinded by superstition. Yet Westerners, having rejected the Bible, are looking for enlighten­ment in the very Eastern religions which destroyed and impoverish these countries.

In one of her rare accurate insights, the late psychic Jeane Dixon foresaw this massive turning to the East. The story is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden. Dixon relates how the serpent crawled up on her bed and wrapped itself around her:

Its eyes were gazed fixed toward the East…. The serpent turned its head and our eyes met. Its eyes reflected all the wisdom and suffering of the ages, but also an unspoken plea for trust and understanding. It moved its head again, facing the East one more, as if to tell me that I must look to the East for wisdom and understanding. Somehow I sensed that it was conveying to me that if my trust and faith in it were great enough, I would be able to partake of it unlimited, unearthly wisdom. The serpent looked back, and while I gazed deeply into its eyes, it withdrew and vanished. ^[7]

Later reflection convinced Dixon that this serpent had been Satan appearing to her and that he was going to deceive the world on a massive scale. ^[8] Who better would know the role that Eastern mysticism would play than the very instigator of that delusion! Yet Dixon though she saw in the serpent’s eyes “all the wisdom and suffering of the ages.” How seductive is the occult invasion!

Notes

1. ↑ Bill Thomson, “Spiritual Values in the Business World,” in Yoga Journal, January/February 1988, p.52.
2. ↑ Bill Friedman, Ph.D., “Interview with Gerald Jampolsky, M.D.,” in Orange County Resources, p. 3, from Jampolsky’s book, Teach Only Love.
3. ↑ Jon Klimo, Channeling (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1987), p. 149, quoted from Klimo’s interview with Skutch.
4. ↑ “The World According to Ram,” The Utne Reader, July/Aug. 1988, p. 80.
5. ↑ “The Guru and the FAA,” in Newsweek, March 6, 1995, p. 32; see also Ruth Larson, “Unethical conduct found in FAA probe,” in Washington Times, March 29, 1995, pp. A1, A18.
6. ↑ “The World According to Ram,” Utne, p. 80.
7. ↑ Jeane Dixon with Rene Noorbergen, Jeane Dixon, My Life and Prophecies, Her Own Story As Told to Rene Noorbergen (William Morrow and Company, 1969), pp. 160-161.
8. ↑ Ibid., p. 166.